California Beaches Blog

As a women’s conference at the Long Beach Convention Center drew much attention this week with motivational speeches from the Governor’s wife, Maria Shriver, and Elizabeth Smart who survived kidnap and rape, a power house of women (a who’s who of the celebrity and political crowd) attended the event. Empowerment, discussion and motivation were all part of the annual conference that drew over 15,000 people.

Meanwhile, a Richmond teenage girl was brutally raped and beaten by up to 10 teens and men when leaving a high school dance. The horror of the story grabbed equally large headlines, and followed on the tail of another story from Contra Costa County–the recovery of Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was kidnapped as a child and treated as a sex slave for over 18 years. While these horrific stories and acts bring warranted media attention as even reporters  struggle to explain the violence, California continues to have the highest rates in the nation for recidivism of parolees. 2/3 of California parolees return to prison within three years of release, and the average prisoner had over 10 arrests before first going to prison.

• Each year in California the chance of you and your loved ones becoming a victim, a survivor or affected by the violent crime of Forcible Rape is  1 in 3958.
• Violence against women in programs on television has nearly doubled recently.
• Take a look at the map of registered sex offenders to see those listed and living in and around your neighborhood at familywatchdog.us.